pmoto-utho



JOI-IN W. HOPE, OFYNEW YORK, N. Y.

BRICK-PRESS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 7,414, dated June 4, 1850.

To all 'whom tmc/y conce/m.'

Be it known that I, J. W. Horn, of the city, county, and State of NewYork, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines forManufacturing Bricks, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, whichform part of this specification, and in which- Figure l represents aview in perspective of my brick machine. Fig. 2 is a vertical transversesection through the same. Fig.

' 3 is a plan of the cog tooth wheel detached from the machine, and Fig.i a plan of one of the molding-boxes. i

My brick machine is constructed to grind the clay and to force it intothe mold, it also grasps the mold-box firmly while the ground clay isbeing forced into it and stops the discharge of clay from the machinewhen the filled molds are withdrawn to be replaced by empty ones.

The machine is composed of a pugmill for grinding the clay, a chamber toreceive the ground clay, and t-he various devices for supporting themolds, filling them with clay, striking the bricks, and shutting oif thedischarge of clay when the filled molds are withdrawn. The severalmembers of the machine are all mounted upon and secured to a strongframe A; the pugmill B, consists of a rectangular case open at the topand closed at the bottom; an upright shaft O is stepped in the bottom aof the case and extends upward through a box c secured to the uppermostcrossbars of the frame. A series of radiating knives b are secured tothis shaft which cut and work the clay thrown into the open -top of thecase. An opening CZ, is made through the i lower part o-f thefront sideof the pugmill,

through which the clay ground by the knives is discharged into achamber, D; the discharge of the clay into this chamber is effected bytwo curved wings e, e, secured to the lower extremity of the uprightshaft. The bottom of the chamber, D, is considerably lower than that ofthe pugmill and the space between the two is closed `by a movablepiston, E, which extends the whole breadth of the chamber. The piston isalternately drawn outward and forced into the chamber by means of an armf with which it is coneeted by avrod, g, and which projects from ashaft, F, to which a rocking motion is imparted from a horizontal shaft,

G, by means of a crank, 7i, connecting rod, z', and arm, f. The shafthas a trundle wheel I secured to it which is operated by a double seriesof cog teeth, I-I, projected from the face of a wheel J secured to theupright shaft O of the pugmill. An opening Ze, is made through the frontside of the chamber D corresponding in size with the face of one of themold-boxes L and through this opening the clay in the chamber is forcedinto the cavities of the mold-box by the action of the piston. Themold-box which is constructed in this instance to contain iive bricks isplaced on `edge with its open face against the opening in the front ofthe chamber and is supported in that position by a frame M; it isprevented from being forced outward by the pressure of the entering clayby a roller N which is depressed against the bottom'of the mold-box (L)and remains in that position during the action of the piston E when itis raised to allow the lled mold-box to be removed. The gudgeons of theroller are supported by the outer extremities of two equal and parallelarms Z hinged at their hinder extremities to the sides of the chamber D.In order to raise or depress the roller these arms are passed throughslots in two sliding uprights m whose upper extremities are framed intoa cross beam, O, which is connected by a rod,\f,`with the pin of acrank, 7L', secured to the end of a shaft, Gr', which is turned by adouble series of cog-teeth, H', projected from the face of the wheel J.In order to prevent the discharge of clay when the mold-box iswithdrawn, the opening in the front of the chamber is fitted lwith agate, I), which is attached at each extremity to an upright rod, 0,'these rods pass through the top and the bottom of the chamber, and theirupper extremities are connected with a cross-beam, R, which is raised ordepressed to raise or depress the gate connected with it, by a crank, h,on a shaft, G, in the same manner as the roll N. The several shafts G,G', G, for operating the piston E, the roll N, and the gate P', areconstructed to slide longitudinally in their boxes, in such manner thatthe),T can be drawn outward from the upright shaft of the pugmill, todraw their respective trundle wheels I I I out of the lines of motion ofthe respective series of cog-teeth which drive them, and can be forcedinward toward the upright shaft when the piston, the roll, and the gateare to be brought into action. This operation of throwing the trundlewheels in or out of gear is effected by the director of the machine whoapplies his hand to the rod p, and thus moves a rock shaft S, from aprojecting arm g, of which the rod p depends; the rock shaft has twoother arms g', Q, projecting upward from it, the one q is conected by arod r with a shiftingbar T which acts at each extremity upon two collarss s', s 8 secured to the two shafts Gr, G; the other arm Q of the rockshaft is connected by a rod r with a second upright rock shaft S towhich a shifting lever 15, is secured which acts upon the shaft G. Y

The relative positions of the cranks 7L, 7L, for operating the gate andthe roll are such that when not in action as represented in the drawingthe gate is at its lowest position and the rolll is at its highest;while under the same circumstances the piston E is withdrawn to theextremity of its back stroke. The several series of cog-teeth on thewheel, J, are also so arranged that when the trundle wheels are in gearthe several members of the machine shall be brought into action in theirproper order; thus, the wheel J is constructed to turn in the directionindicated by the arrow, hence the cog teeth will be first brought inContact with the teeth of the trundle G which works the roller, as thereare but three cog teeth in a series and as the trundle is `furnishedwith six pins the shaft G will be turned but half way around thusreversing the position of the crank 71K, and depressing the roll againstthe bottom of the mold-box L presented to the opening,l

7c; assoon as this is effected the cog teeth corresponding to thetrundle, G, begin to act and as the relative number of teeth in thewheel and this trundle are the same as in those of the roll, theposition of the crank 7L, will be reversed to draw up the gate P; assoon as the gate is raised the cog teeth corresponding to the trundleGr, begin to act, thus forcing the piston, E, forward and shoving theclay through the opening into the mold-b0x held in place by thedepressed roll. As the wheel continues to revolve the second series ofthree cog teeth H acting upon the trundle I depress the gate, and assoon as this is effected the roller N is raised and the piston withdrawnto its outermost position by the two series of teeth H, H, acting upontheir respective trundles I, I. A. striking wire 'a is added to themachine to separate the clay in the molds from the mass in front of thegate, P, which is operated by a foot treadle V to which the foot of thedirector is applied as soon as the gate, P, descends. The opening Zbetween the pug-mill and the chamber D is fitted with a sliding gate, W,by which it can be closed when the first clay is thrown into the mill.As soon as the clay is sufciently ground, this gate is raised and thechamber is gradually filled by the action of the wings c, 6,' as soon asthe chamber is filled empty molds properly soaked and sanded are appliedto the front of the chamber and the trundle wheels are thrown into gearby moving the hand rod p; the operation of molding then proceedsautomatically, successive empty mold-boxes being presented to themachine as the full ones are withdrawn; should the empty-mold-bo-xes notbe ready as soon as necessary the trundle wheels are thrown out of gearto prevent the discharge of clay, while the motion of the upright shaftandthe grinding of the clay proceeds uninterruptedly. It frequentlyhappens that stones or hard lumps are mingled with the raw clay. Thesedescend into the chamber D and if no arrangement was provided to obviatethe diiiiculty one of these lodging beneath the descending gate, P,would be very likely to break the machine. To prevent this diiiicultythe connection of the cross-beam R, and the rod is not rigid but acertain amount of play is allowed by lengthening the hole c in the lowerend of the connecting rod, through which the coupling pin is passed; andin order to force the gate down to its lowest position a spring fw, isattached t0 the rod z' and crossbeam R, sufliciently stiff to force thegate through ground clay but flexible enough to allow it to yield to aforce that would break the machine. In order to prevent the revolutionof the trundle Shafts in the wrong direction a ratchet wheel X issecured to each, and a spring pawl x is arranged to act upon theirteeth.

I do not confine myself to the precise arrangement and construction ofthe several parts above described but intend to vary them ascircumstances may render expedient; thus, beveled wheels may besubstituted in place of the trundle wheels andthe wheel J instead ofbeing attached to the pug mill shaft may be secured to a countershaftdriven by gearing from the pug-mill shaft and arranged to revolve at agreater or less speed.

Having thus described my brick machine, what I claim therein as new anddesire to secure by Letters Patent is- Operating the roll (N) forholding the moldbox, the gate (P) for regulating the discharge of clay,and the piston (E) for compressing the clay into the molds, by means ofa wheel (J) furnished with series of teeth (H, H, H,) secured to it andacting through trundles, shafts, cranks, and connecting rods, connectedwith the roll (N), the gate (P), and the piston (E), respectivelysubstantially as herein set forth.

JOHN W. HOPE.

Witnesses:

C. F. YOUNG, PETER BRASS.

